NORTH YORK’S FEGARAS VOTED OJHL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
April 28, 2022, Mississauga, ON – …. The Ontario Junior Hockey League has named George Fegaras of the North York Rangers its Rookie of the Year for 2021-22, the league announced today. The award was voted on by league general managers and a panel of media members.
Fegaras was named OJHL InStat Prospect of the Year by NHL Central Scouting last week. He was also named to the league’s First All-Star Team and finished runner-up in voting for Defenceman of the Year.
Fegaras committed to NCAA DI Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in late October.
At age 17, Fegaras played in 52 of North York’s 54 regular season games, scoring 13 goals and assisting on 35. His 48 points were third highest of all defencemen – in a pack of 20- and 21-year-olds – in the 21-team league and second most of all Ranger players.
“This season was a great experience,” Fegaras told the OJHL. “It all came down to the coaching staff and the guys. It was a seamless transition coming into the OJHL. It was a lot of fun, and they made you want to come to the rink every single day and battle hard for the guys.”
“I transitioned my game a bit from minor hockey to junior. Defence coach Matty Chiarantano changed my game from being more of an offensive-style defenceman to a two-way style and I think that's really benefited me. I thought I really developed as a player this year.”
Thoughts on the OJHL, George?
“It’s a great league,” he said. “There are some really top players in it who are going to go play Division I college hockey next year. It’s a really fast-paced league and a great development league whether you want to go the OHL or the school route.”
Fegaras drew the attention of Central Scouting at the very beginning of the 2021-22 OJHL season, his first at the junior level.
Multiple scouts from the league provided positive reports on the rookie defencemen even before reps from all 32 NHL teams got a look at him during the OJHL Governors’ Showcase in Cobourg last fall.
Fegaras was one of four OJHLers named to NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary watch list for the 2022 draft in October. He remained listed through the NHL’s mid-season rankings.
“He continued to grow and get better as a player,” said North York Head Coach Geoff Schomogyi. “George is one of those kids who is constantly seeking feedback on how he can better his game and better himself.
“He (was) a rock back there for us. I’m so impressed with how he has been able to skate pucks out of our zone and create offence from our back end.”
Fegaras committed to the OJHL’s Rangers from his hometown Richmond Hill Coyotes AAA program ahead of the COVID-cancelled 2020-21 OJHL season. He was a fourth-round pick of the Kitchener Rangers in the 2020 Ontario Hockey League U16 draft.
With his Rangers eliminated from the OJHL playoffs, Fegaras is busy with off-ice training, skating sessions three times a week and preparing to attend the NHL Draft, July 7 and 8 in Montreal.
Easton Wainwright of the Brantford 99ers was runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting. The diminutive forward from Mount Hope led the 99ers in scoring this season, tallying a point-per-game (51 in 51). He didn’t turn 17 until Jan. 19.
The next highest-scoring Brantford player had 31 points. Wainwright’s 28 goals included eight on the power play, four while shorthanded and three game-winners.
Wainwright committed to join the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League in December and played for both teams in the second half of the season. He has 10 points in 21 games with the Sting this year. Wainwright was a ninth-round (172nd overall) Sting pick in the 2021 OHL U16 draft.
Fegaras and the other OJHL award recipients will be honoured during a ceremony before Game 1 of the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series in early May. The OJHL is announcing its 2021-22 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
About the OJHL – “League of Choice”
The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the
Canadian Junior Hockey League with 22 member clubs. A proud member of the CJHL and Ontario
Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL had more than 125 commitments in 2019-20 – including more than 45 NCAA Division I scholarships.
Photos: OJHL Images
